THE Bunyip Ridge fire on February 7 last year destroyed Ben Elliott's house, but it certainly didn't destroy his sense of humour.

Guests invited to his house-warming next weekend received invitations decorated with flames.

The 23-year-old dairy sharefarmer from Jindivick, in West Gippsland, said his mother was behind the tongue-in-cheek invitations.

Mr Elliott said the party was a good chance to thank all those who had helped him after the fires last February.

Indicative of the assistance he received when his house, 13ha of his 158ha share-farm, plus 500 bales of hay and silage were burnt, is the fact that he is catering for up to 100 people with a spit-roast and drinks.

Mr Elliott moved from his temporary home-a 6m-long and 3m-wide cabin with shower and toilet on the side-into his new brick house on December 15.

Describing himself as "pretty lucky" because his herd of 230 crossbred cows was saved by gathering around a dam, he said he hadn't looked back since the fires.

"I've been flat out - you don't really think about it much," he said.

"You keep working, trying to get everything back to half-normal to try and keep the cattle in and try and get the farm back in order."

The milking herd has recovered from the fires, after initially dropping in production.

"Production was down a little bit. The day before the fires they were doing 17 litres, but they didn't get milked for 34 hours and (when they did) it dropped to 13 litres," he said.

"It was getting to the end of their lactation and it affected them, but not as much as I thought."

Fire-damaged pastures were over-sown once it rained last year and Mr Elliott said it was hard to tell there had been a fire.

During spring he cut 900 rolls of silage and 300 bales of hay. He plans to bale summer crops in the next week and will re-sow 61ha of pasture this year, as a top-up.