YOU can't help but notice the grass on Brent and Kim Mitchell's South Gippsland dairy farm - it's green and there is lots of it.
The thick, luscious ryegrass extends as far as the eye can see, broken only by dams and the odd Holstein milking cow making the most of the bonanza.
But it is not until you explore the young sharefarming couple's recent history that you realise how much all this green fodder is appreciated. Only six months ago, the Mitchells were milking 130 cows near Dingee in northern Victoria.
"Water security was basically the issue up there in northern Victoria," Brent said. "With the low water allocation, purchasing feed was our only option.
"We were buying in 75-80 per cent of our feed for the cows and that was becoming unviable."
Given the looming low opening milk price this season, the couple decided to take a punt and move their stud operation, Mitch Holsteins, to greener pastures.
In June, they started sharefarming with Jim and Jenny Watson at Poowong in the heart of the South Gippsland hills.
The Mitchells relocated their herd of 150 cows, purchased some extra cows to bring the milkers up to 280 head, and also added a second-hand tractor to their assets.
'We are learning again to manage grass," Kim said. "We have done the Pasture for Profit course, so we work on getting the rotation right."
In an effort to manage the feed, the Mitchell's rotation is currently running at 15-18 days.
A third of the 154ha farm has been shut up for silage and so far, they have cut 160 rolls off 14ha.
More will be cut in the coming weeks.
However, there have been downsides to the recent rain. During September and October they received 279mm, similar to the entire year's rainfall at Dingee last year.
For starters, they had to learn how to drive tractors on hills.
The soft ground from the consistent rain, combined with moving from drier country, has caused some herd health issues.
The Mitchells have had quite a few cows with sore feet and the wet weather has triggered outbreaks of mastitis, a common problem for local dairy farmers.
It has also taken time to change the cows from a diet based on hay and grain to primarily grass.
While the water security in South Gippsland was one of the attractions to sharefarming with the Watsons, the opportunity to bring their own cows to the operation sealed the deal.
Kim and Brent met while working in the artificial-insemination business and have long held a passion for herd improvement.
Kim grew up showing beef cattle and now helps Warrnambool-based Salers breeder, Malcolm Randall, with his Murrabah Salers at shows across Victoria.
The couple's Holstein stud has been operating for three years, but was born out of a previous breeding operation called Mitchmantle, that Brent owned with a friend.
With a strong emphasis on US genetics and breed type, the Mitchells have concentrated on buying cows with "deep" pedigrees and "strong" cow families such as the Canadian Roxy family, the Blitz cows as well as the "S" family from Rockridge Holsteins at Myponga in South Australia.
Recently, their first two cows were classified excellent.
Ten-year-old Mitchmantle Storm Roxy and 11-year-old Rockridge Leadership Shandy received the highest breed honors.
Rockridge Leadership Shandy's daughter Mitch Shottle Sweet was first in her class at three shows, including junior champion at the Rochester show in February and reserve All-Australian calf in the Holstein/Semex All-Australian photo competition.
The growing Mitch Holsteins stud currently comprises 20 milking cows and 20 calves.
"We are still doing embryo transfer work when finances allow," Brent said.
"We do ET work a couple of times a year depending of what cows are right to go and we make selective purchases, when finances allow, if there is something we really want.
"But we have enough cow families now to develop. We will increase naturally plus with ET work."
Increasing their number of registered animals is a future goal for the Mitchells, after all, they say milking the cows comes second to breeding them.
"It's what gets me out of bed early in the morning - to milk good cows," Brent said.
"We have to find a way to make a profitable dairy business that allows us to do what we enjoy which is breeding cows."
As Burra Foods suppliers, the Mitchells have welcomed the most recent step-up, but like all dairy farmers, they are keen to see more. "I hope the milk companies keep fighting over who's paying the most," Brent said.
The Mitchells' budget for this year has been worked around 28-30c/litre.
"We were budgeting on selling hay and water up north, but hay prices are lower so we will see what happens," Kim said. "We planned for a slight loss in the first year with all the moving costs and purchases."
Looking ahead, the Mitchells remain confident in the dairy industry and the need for agriculture to supply food to a growing world population, however, they feel governments needs to recognise the important role farmers play and support their businesses.
