Friday, March 29, 2024

Lucky in the lucky country

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Being born the second son of a Swiss dairy farmer and therefore having little opportunity to inherit the farm always seemed like bad luck to Werner Lang.
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“But now I think it was lucky,” he told the Australian Dairy Conference in Geelong earlier this year.

He left school and took up a carpentry apprenticeship, but when he did his national service the words of his commander stuck with him.

“He said, ‘There’s nothing man can’t do.’”

From there he went to work on a government-owned farm, which was one of the largest in the country, and there he met Josie, a farmer’s daughter. They talked about leaving their homeland to find better farming opportunities and while Canada appealed they decided it was too cold.

A month later they had visas for Australia and three days before they left they married. They arrived in Australia with $34,000 in the bank and settled at Port Macquarie where Josie had an uncle.

But with the milk quota system in place they were drawn to Cobram in northern Victoria.

“Our only problem was money,” Werner said.

The 50ha property they decided to buy was run-down and as the owners hadn’t been able to sell it they agreed to leave in 10% finance. Drought and an outbreak of Johnes disease meant they had to sell 30 cows then buy young animals cheaply. Counting every cent and spending as little as possible, Werner milked 90 cows while Josie worked as a nurse at the local hospital.

“She was the best cow in the herd,” he said.

“That pushed the whole business along.”

And with her taking care of the farm accounts he still doesn’t need to spend any time in the office.

“She’s the best investment I ever made.”

After the drought broke they started expanding, buying an adjacent piece of land in 1988 and pushing cow numbers up to 180. In 1995 they bought more land allowing them to milk 300 cows. Two years later they built a rotary dairy and 400-cow feedpad and by 2002 the herd had expanded to 550 cows. They poured the concrete themselves for the feedpad which cost a total of $28,000.

Their next purchase was another dairy farm down the road three years later. Their oldest son, Phillip, returned home to run it after completing his studies in agricultural science at Melbourne University. Cow numbers were boosted to 800, moving up to 1100 in 2012.

In the 2012-13 season the Langs bought another 260ha dairy farm nearby with the potential to milk more than 500 cows. This is used as a support area for grazing and to grow fodder crops, meaning cow numbers could lift again to 1250. They haven’t stopped there and are thinking of developing more of their land to be able to carry more than 1500 cows.

Werner said their strategy of buying land step-by-step meant that initially they didn’t buy any large farms.

“We were worried we would lose what we had fought for,” he said.

“We have a healthy respect for debt.”

They aim to keep equity levels in the 60% area and after only one short-term loan for a machinery purchase they decided never to do it again.

They now have 295ha of irrigated milking platform as well as 280ha of irrigated support area. They’ve always supplied Tatura Milk Industries, which is now part of Bega, and to fit with its premiums for a flat milk supply curve they calve 70% of their Friesian cows in spring and 30% in autumn. They have imported sexed semen from Denmark in their quest for a good-performing, medium-sized cow.

They aim to convert as much of the pasture grown on the milking platform as possible into milk at a stocking rate of 3.8-4 cows/ha, then use conserved fodder fed on the feedpad to fill the gaps. Usually cows will be fed there from mid-December until the end of August.

Pastures are mainly permanent ryegrass, paspalum, and white clover under flood irrigation with some tall fescue blocks.

They feed about 6kg/cow/day of concentrate pellets in the dairy in a simple system using one silo and feed-head which means low labour requirements. Almost no fodder is conserved from the milking platform but from that grown on the support area they use contractors to make 400 tonnes drymatter (DM) of maize silage, 500t DM lucerne silage and 900t DM grass silage annually. They aim to have 15-18 months worth of fodder on hand at all times.

When they first looked at maize they were told it wouldn’t grow in their area, but the first crop was so successful they imported a chopper from Switzerland.

Last year they also bought in 0.4t DM/cow of dried distillers’ grain, 400t of almond hulls as a fodder extender and 300t of oat hay.

Their aim is to have their water rights as secure as possible and they’ve also used water from the nearby Goulburn wastewater treatment plant when it has been available, some of the few farmers to do so.

“Buying close to the wastewater plant we were told we were mad and that it was a stinking place,” Werner said.

“We were a bit scared at first but we have used the water more and more.”

The water has elevated sodium levels so targeted soil treatments with gypsum are needed.

Phillip said water took a lot of management on their farms due to the regulation involved.

“We also own a lot of permanent water,” he said.

“It’s not cheap but it gives us security which is very important.”

They have two 50-bail rotaries and, keeping things as simple as possible, they stay away from added electronics.

“When you want to be really perfect that’s when you go broke,” Werner said.

“You have to compromise.”

Succession is an ongoing discussion, with second son Markus working on the farm as well, daughter Katherine in her last year of a vet science degree, and youngest son Ben studying to be a civil engineer. Phillip and Markus have recently bought a block close by and the whole family has yet to decide whether to convert some of their support block to a third dairying area.

“We’ve talked about it for years,” Phillip said.

“We have open and honest discussions which sometimes get a bit loud.”

Werner said it’s up to his children to make their own decisions about whether to work together or split up the properties.

Some of the negativity in the Australian dairy industry disappoints him.

“I’ve shown my kids there’s money to be made in farming,” he said.

“My brother is Switzerland is still milking 20 cows.”

Farm details

Size: 630ha (575ha effective)
Cows: 1200
Production: 499kg milksolids (MS)/cow, 2033kg MS/ha
Labour units: 8.5, including six for family members
Production/labour unit: 70,572kg MS
Total income: $5.92/kg MS
Feed costs: $2.21/kg MS
Total cost of production: $3.84/kg MS
Operating margin with cost of capital @ 6%: $1.12.

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