AGRONOMIST Scott McKillop had to take stock of his career and lifestyle when his dairy share farmers announced they were leaving last year.
The share farmers, the McDonald family, were runners-up in last year's Genetics Australia Share Dairyfarmers of the Year - but running their own farm beckoned.
- AT A GLANCE
- Who: Scott McKillop
- What: dairy
- Where: Dederang, Victoria
- Why: eyes on prize
- Report: KIM WOODS
Their dryland dairy farm at Dederang, in the Kiewa Valley, had supplied 2.3 million litres of milk annually to Murray Goulburn.
Scott, who has an agricultural science degree from Melbourne University, had worked as a pasture agronomist for Benalla company Smyth Seeds since 2004.
"We had two good share farmers with great herds of cows and we were involved in all the joint-management decisions," he said.
"We were consulted openly on buying cows, calving patterns, grass seeds, pastures and maintenance."
When Scott had to relief milk for a fortnight last July, it got him thinking about switching to dairying full-time.
"I realised I had a lot to learn but we had good people around us to help with information and advice," he said. "I thought now was the time to buy cows and make the change."
Up until that point, Scott had been wearing the boot on the other foot.
As an agronomist, he had consulted on dryland and irrigated pastures with dairy farmers in the North East and Murray Valley.
Scott had observed the move from perennial to annual pastures on the back of limited water allocations.
He noted milking herds swinging to autumn calving, a lack of summer watering, the emergence of total mixed rations and installation of feed pads.
Scott found the better operators achieved pasture-utilisation rates of 6-7 tonnes/ha on dryland dairies and 10 tonnes/ha on irrigation.
But two dramatic events took his professional focus away from the dairy industry.
The demise of the Australian tobacco industry resulted in Scott working closely with former tobacco growers from Myrtleford on planting and managing fodder crops.
He also provided technical advice to the Mudgegonga and Rosewhite farmers devastated by last February's Black Saturday fires, and was touched by their community spirit.
"I learnt as much from those people as they did from me - it was a two-way street and that was an enjoyable part of the job," Scott said.
When the McKillop's share farmers left on December 12, the family had just 30 cows.
"We were starting from scratch and wanted a medium-framed autumn-calving herd to cope with the variable springs," Scott said.
"A common thread people had told us was to buy good cows from the start.
"I liked the idea of having a seasonal-calving herd with a distinct dry-off period to enable the farm to recharge."
The McKillop's 500ha farm includes a 140ha run-off block which is home to a 100 cow, self-replacing herd.
Used as a risk-management tool, the autumn-calving beef herd supplies weaner steers for the January calf sales in Wodonga.
For Scott, the move to full-time dairying was not based purely on financials but involved lifestyle factors.
It was an opportunity to spend more time with Belinda and their children Angus, 3, and Lexi, 1.
"I thought the bottom of the dairy cycle was a good time to get into the industry," he said.
"Although there is volatility in milk prices and input costs, such as fertiliser and fuel, the upwards trend is occurring for dairy products."
The McKillops searched for an even line of moderate-framed Holstein-Friesian cows with a good production history.
They found 300 artificially inseminated-bred first to fifth calvers from the one herd owned by the Smith family, of Nirranda.
"The cows were top quality and had produced up to 7700 litres and 620kg of milk solids," Scott said.
"They had 16 years of AI breeding behind them and were not large framed."
The cattle were trucked at night to minimise heat stress and then spent a fortnight being trained to the 50-unit rotary dairy.
Installed in 2004, the rotary had been moved from Swan Hill and rebuilt by the McKillops at Dederang to replace a 20-unit swing over.
It was accompanied by silos, a roller mill, feed system, vat, holding yards and shed.
"We cut the platform into six pieces with a concrete saw, drew plans and numbered the pieces like a jigsaw," Scott said.
"We put in new cup removers and have had no problems since.
"The final cost was less than half of a new dairy.
"In terms of speed, the rotary took one hour off each milking a day."
Water for the dairy is supplied by spring-fed drag-line holes, and plate-cooler water is recycled for the yard-wash system.
Waste water from the effluent ponds is used to spray irrigate a brassica and ryegrass crop in late February and early March.
"The crop gives us feed within eight to 10 weeks in late April and May for the freshly calved cows," Scott said.
"We also rely heavily on conserved feed in autumn - 1200 rolls of ryegrass, oaten and red clover silage, hay and bought-in feed."
Scott and Belinda now have 250 cows due to calve in March to AI sires Lancelot, Bullbar, Lord Press, Alta Wildman, Alta Ice and Augusta.
"We have no heifer replacements for 2011 so our main focus will be to get all cows back in calf this season, even if it means joining some as spring calvers," he said.
"In the dairy, it's all about solids production rather than literage.
"Although we expect to feed 1.8-2 tonnes/cow of grain a year, our main focus is on growing as much pasture as we can."
In the past, annual and Italian ryegrasses were grown in favour of perennial ryegrass pastures.
"We have been able to maintain feed quality in spring and with the summer rains, the Italian ryegrass keeps green until Christmas," Scott said.
"Plans are to lightly cultivate paddocks this month, sow oats in late February to early March, and winifred rape and crusader ryegrass under the irrigation.
"Annual and Italian ryegrasses will be sown from mid March to the end of April, or not more than three days after a 15-20mm rainfall.
"Long-rotation ryegrasses are grown on the better country and not grazed from mid December to May to allow them to persist."
With phosphorus levels adequate, Scott plans to lift soil pH with a liming program.
When it comes to grazing management, he likes plants to be grazed at the 2 1/2-three leaf stage and resists the temptation to "nip paddocks off too early".
"We are challenging the cows to produce more by presenting them with quality pasture and filling the gaps with silage and grain so they are fully fed at all times," he said.
"In our first season we are aiming at 2.3 million litres, or 7200 litres a cow, and 550kg of milk solids.
"We expect to average 6kg grain a day/cow over the 300-day lactation.
"With grain and milk prices for the coming autumn in our favour, it makes sense to produce as much milk as we can."
