South East dairy farmer Peter Telford, who was impacted by the Beston closure in 2024, estimates the experience has set his business back by two years.
Now supplying ProviCo in Victoria, Peter is still hopeful of receiving some payment for milk supplied to Beston between June and September 2024.
Beston entered voluntary administration in September 2024 and KPMG was appointed to assess Beston’s business and operations. On 26 November 2024, KPMG announced that Beston would undergo an orderly wind down, with milk production operations ceasing on 6 December 2024.
“The first sign of trouble was delayed milk payments that started in about May 2024. We were assured we’d be paid, and we felt that we couldn’t leave because we were in a contract,” Peter said.
“Once the receivers took over, we were locked into continuing to supply milk Beston, as it was a going concern. But at least we were paid for our milk from that point.
“But we’re still owed more than half a million dollars from July to September 2024, which I hope will be paid at some point. Thankfully we had some cash reserves, and we’ve got a good bank, so we could keep going, but it still hurts. It’s put us two years backwards, I’d say.”
Once the Beston closure was confirmed and with assistance from a former Beston field officer, Peter researched potential new processors.
“I looked at a couple of companies and a couple of others chased me. We looked at a total of four offers and we ended up going with ProviCo in Dennington, Victoria,” Peter said.
“ProviCo’s field officer spoke to me on the phone, and then they came around for a meeting and made us an offer, which turned out to be the best one.
“So far, ProviCo seems to be a good company to deal with, and I’m happy with them price-wise. It’s only a short-term contract until the end of June and then we’ll be looking at our options again.”
Peter owns Telford Dairies which has three locations in the South East: a main home farm at Mount Schank, set on 900 acres with 370 acres of irrigation, where 700 cows are milked, a small block near Allendale East where they raise their calves and another block at Piccaninnie Ponds where steers and heifers are raised.
Milking is done in a 25-year-old 70-unit rotary dairy that has been improved over the years. “We’ve also increased our milking herd numbers gradually, but we’ve hit our limit now at 700 as that’s the number we’re licensed for and it’s a comfortable number for our farm size and dairy,” Peter said.
In early 2024, the Telfords installed a 100-kilowatt solar system, with 250 solar panels on the roof and a battery for power storage, which is powering the farm, taking the family off-grid.
“The system cost about half a million, which added another layer of pressure to the books in 2024 when the Beston situation happened, but I’m glad we invested in solar,” Peter said.
“It’s saving us about $100,000 per year in power costs, so it’s a good investment in future sustainability.”
Telford Dairies now includes generation four, with Peter’s 27-year-old son Theo involved in the business. Peter’s grandfather settled in the area following World War II.
