Gunbower dairy farmer Stephen Brown in his new rotary dairy.
When Stephen and Brooke Brown made the decision to build a new dairy on their Gunbower farm, they had no idea the build would take nearly two-and-a-half years and cost them so many sleepless nights.
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COVID-19 lockdowns, floods, waiting for trades and supply chain issues all contributed to a lengthy build, along with accessing building and planning permits.
But in early July this year, they turned on the new 50-unit rotary for the first time and began the much awaited next chapter in their dairy journey.
“It is a massive job co-ordinating a dairy build,” Stephen said.
“No-one can do it for you and you have to make all the decisions, co-ordinate and organise everything for yourself. I am glad I have had a construction background because it is not easy.”
A new dairy was always on the cards for the northern Victorian couple after spending the past 17 years milking in a nine-a-side dairy — the old dairy had well and truly served its purpose.
Part of the new rotary dairy.
“We bought our farm in 2006 and it was always part of our whole farm plan to move the dairy to the centre of the farm,” Stephen said.
“We had to co-contribute to upgrade the power for irrigation under NVIRP (Northern Victoria Irrigation Renewal Project) and that was the beginning really so it has been a long time in the making.”
The couple have laid out the farm, upgraded the irrigation system to pipe-and-riser, fenced and installed a bore.
“The dairy is our last major infrastructure spend and we have upgraded not to milk more cows, but to make the job easier for us as a family and to stay away from government red tape and just do the job ourselves,” Stephen said.
Initially the couple purchased a second-hand dairy from a farm around the road but in the end they decided to build a new platform. They didn’t want to have to turn around in 10 years time and put in a new one in because of wear and tear.
“You can’t replace a new platform very easily and we had access to a whole list of optional extras with a new build. I think we ended up with them all — hardener in the concrete, stainless steel, you name it,” Stephen laughed.
The vat was part of the second-hand dairy purchase.
The couple were still able to reinstall the vat, plate cooler, variable drive vacuum pump and the ADF system, which saved a fortune, and they sold all the bits and pieces they didn’t need.
Time delays made the building process stressful and the couple thought it was never going to end. The actual shed structure was completed in March 2022 but it was waiting for trades and everything else that took so long, in particular concreting.
“The concreter said to us if he was quoting for this job today, it would be double the cost, that’s how much things have increased in price over the last couple of years,” Stephen said.
He said costs had escalated so significantly that if the couple were starting a new build today, they probably wouldn’t go ahead.
“This would easily be a $2 million investment if we started in 2023.”
The delay in the build meant the couple had a particularly exhausting 2022-23 season.
“We expected to be milking in the new dairy last spring so we milked more cows than we normally would, which ended up putting a lot of pressure on us time-wise and it was pretty tough going last year,” Brooke said.
At their peak milking 270 spring-calving cows, they were spending seven hours in the dairy a day. This time will be significantly reduced once they iron out the glitches.
Stephen and Brooke Brown have a spring-calving herd.
As with all new builds there were a few teething problems with pulsation and the feed system, but the couple were surprised by how well the herd took to the rotary.
“Within the first few milkings the cows were walking on by themselves and ironically the biggest problem we have had is actually getting them to get off and stay off, they are always trying to get back on,” Brooke said.
The new dairy has never been about significantly increasing herd numbers but rather doing things easier.
“We are comfortable with our herd size and the way we run our farm. We can grow a fair bit of feed ourselves and a spring-calving herd suits our management,” Stephen said.
“The build might have been dearer than we expected and took twice as long but it has certainly been worth it and I can’t wait to watch the herd settle in while we get some much-needed time back to do other things.”
