MANAGING marginal country on below-average rainfall through bad years has become the norm for many dairy farmers, and Ron Cornall is no exception.
The latest milk price fall is an extra blow to Ron and wife Vicki's East Gippsland, dairy farm, but he believes it is manageable.
"It is just another record-breaking event - being the biggest price drop for years mid-season - but we've broken all sorts of records in the last 10 years," he said.
"We've had the driest 18 months on record, then the driest winter on record and we've survived."
But he knows the months ahead will be tough, compounded by the drought and high input costs.
The Cornalls run 300ha at Clifton Creek, north of Bairnsdale, Victoria and milk 180 to 220 cows on 160ha.
The property is mostly dryland hill country and positioned just inland enough to regularly miss coastal rains.
Ron said local rainfall had changed dramatically in the past 10 years with so called "safe" months proving "flops".
He said rain was no longer spread over the year but arrived in "big dumps", often in summer and winter.
"Our strength here is the milder climate, so we can grow feed during summer and winter," he said. "It is not necessarily over if we don't get an autumn or spring break because we can get summer and winter rain and subsequent growth."
As a result, summer crops such as millet have been planted to capitalise on unseasonal rain and the Cornalls have begun to move back towards lucerne pasture which has deeper roots to help water uptake.
"We are experimenting with a lot of different pastures, including selected perennial ryegrass as well as the more palatable cocksfoot which has a tougher root system and more staying power," Ron said.
The Cornalls have also been forced to look closer at their soils and how they manage pastures.
Paddock sizes have been reduced, grazing rotations extended and sacrifice paddocks used to ensure a good level of ground cover is maintained.
"Our soil needs a good mulch cover to be able to absorb moisture because if it is very dry it can tend to repel the water," Ron said.
He said recent management changes had helped to keep the books balanced.
"Currently, we are just breaking even on feed costs over milk income at $4.80 per cow per day and it is costing $4.70 per cow per day," he said.
"We have refined our feed budget so we have prices as close as we can get and are always refining our management and changing as the circumstances change, which is often on a daily basis."
The Cornalls are keen not to shut the gate on dairying yet and are happy to be part of the three remaining dairy farms at Clifton Creek - back from 40 dairies in the 1960s.
