Myponga dairy farmers Bec and Rob Walmsley, winners of the ‘Best Relationship with a Processor Award’ at the 2024 SA Dairy Awards, say the key to a successful farmer-processor relationship is to build a true partnership.
Supplying to the Fleurieu Milk Company, Bec and Rob share-farm the Windy Vale Holsteins dairy, a herd of 300 being milked in a 15-a-side, rapid-exit dairy.
“For the six years we’ve been here, we’ve worked really closely with Fleurieu Milk across a range of areas including our Food Safety Program and Fleurieu Milk’s projects” Bec said.
“We see our relationship with Fleurieu Milk as a complete paddock-to-plate partnership. We can say with pride that we know what bottle our milk is going into and that’s a game changer for the industry.
“Fleurieu Milk does an awesome job of promoting their farmers, and it’s exciting to supply to them as we can take more ownership of the products – we’re not just selling bulk milk. When we’re feeling stressed about all the daily jobs, we remember we’re part of something bigger, which helps with the slog of farm life.”
The partnership extends to Windy Vale’s Food Safety Program and its relationships with key suppliers.
“We have a Food Safety Program that we follow with Fleurieu Milk. They’ve got a QA team that works with us, to ensure we’re on target with milk quality,” Bec said.
“It’s important to us to meet all the Food Safety standards – we like to get all the little things right. The dairy’s relatively new, so keeping it clean is standard. The wash system is a fully automatic one which is great, but as with all technology, we do need to be hot on making sure it’s effective at all times.
“We have a good relationship with Dairysafe for our audits and with our key suppliers including Agri Dairies, who service our system regularly. We make sure we maintain a good relationship with them, we want them to turn up quickly if anything goes wrong.
“We’ve also got good relationships with our vets, and our agronomist is a huge part of the team, as is our dairy nutritionist. Having these experts in their fields on call takes a bit of stress off our side. We can do the day-to-day work, and they can take care of the technical areas.”
In the past year, Bec and Rob have invested in cow collars that provide accurate heat detection. “The collars also monitor rumination and a range of other cow health markers, so they’re a game changer,” Bec said.
“We still paint treated cows as technology can fail so that’s our back up. If cows have antibiotics in their system, they glow in the dark. Sometimes the basic visual systems are the best.”
The 15-a-side, rapid-exit dairy is less than 10 years old which makes it easier to maintain, and the set-up suits Bec and Rob who do all the milking themselves.
“It’s an awesome dairy to work with. We had an 18-a-side swing over in our previous dairy and I’ve worked on rotaries. Of all the dairies I’ve worked in, this rapid-exit system is the easiest for cow flow. One of us can put 300 cows through in two hours,” Bec said.
Previously a pasture-based feeding system, Windy Vale is now a partial mixed ration (PMR) system, which combines roughage with a portion of concentrate suited to each cow.
“Rob and I went out and bought a mixer wagon and tractor to try to create consistency with cow feed and grow out our heifers better,” Bec said.
“Our five-year plan is to put in a feed pad to improve feed efficiency and chase milk volume and maintain cow condition score. Because of our strong focus on genetics, we want to be able to feed them to their potential.
“You can push them even harder on a system that allows them to be fully fed. Since we’ve adopted PMR, we’ve stepped up a few litres per cow already.”
Windy Vale Holsteins is owned by Fleurieu Milk Directors Chris and Karen Royans and was previously managed by Geoff and Louise Hutchinson.
Bec and Rob took over as share-farmers four years ago and aim to lease the farm eventually.
“I’m not from a dairy background but I’ve been involved in cattle breeding for many years. Rob’s a lifelong dairy farmer from New Zealand and we met in Mount Gambier 15 years ago when we were both working down there,” Bec said.
“We managed a few dairies over the years, and we got to know Geoff through the cattle stud world. Then, six years ago, the opportunity came up through Geoff to manage Windy Vale. We became share-farmers four years ago.
“We’re on an 18% milk share and our primary costs are our labour and machinery. Chris and Karen have given us a great opportunity because it’s not an easy thing to get into farming. Unless you’re born into a family farm or have equity to help you establish a farm, it’s tough. Share-farming is a great option for us.
“Share-farming allows you to build your path towards farm ownership. We’re building more towards leasing than ownership at this stage, but owning a farm is a long-term goal.”
Bec and Rob are passionate about genetics and are heavily involved in the stud market. They breed and show Holstein and Jersey cows as part of the farm.
“We can trace our cows back for generations. We’ve got all this history and data about families traced back to Canada, New Zealand or America,” Bec said.
“What drives us and gets us out of bed is that perfection in breeding the cows that we want. And our cows are happy and healthy, which shows in our herd and our milk.”