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World
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Young dairy farmer expands his horizons by working 15 weeks on Australian dairy farms in DFA’s Young Dairy Leader Exchange program
J.R. Fisher already knew a lot about dairy farming in Texas, but now he knows a lot about co-ops in Australia. The 21-year-old Dairy Farmers of America producer has become knowledgeable with the cooperatives Down Under.
Thanks to his energetic personality and the generosity of the DFA Young Dairy Leader Exchange program, Fisher was able to spend 15 weeks in Australia working on two dairy farms. By having the experience of two farms, the diversity of his knowledge was increased even more. One farm, the first he visited, was a small and rather simple 125-cow herd, while the second was a 500-cow sophisticated operation.
“That’s the only way a person can open up his mind — to see things in another country,” he says. “I want to be educated and find out about different places. When I see someone, I tell them Australia was great; and they should take every opportunity to go there.”
While Fisher says he enjoyed his entire visit to Australia, he came back with a special spot in his heart for the family that ran the larger operation located between Victoria and New South Wales. Two brothers, Ian and Robert Singleton, run the 1,000-acre farm, milking 400 cows in a 48-unit rotary that can handle about 300 cows per hour.
The Singleton milk production comes from a Jersey and Holstein herd that has access to five, 10-acre paddocks. In the area where the Singletons live, the climate is conducive to growing grass. “Grass, grass, grass,” as Fisher puts it.
A 10 percent humidity, just enough rainfall, warm days, and cool nights produce lush rye, clover, and alfalfa. “It’s about knee deep, year-round,” he says.
But grass wasn’t the only subject Fisher learned about while in Australia. The brothers offered him a variety of interests. Ian, the older, focused on the market and cooperative activities, while his brother, Robert, was the “cow man.” Robert specialized in genetics, breeding and what feed to use to get the best production.
The Texan attended the Aussie cooperative meetings with his hosts where he heard many of the same topics discussed that he hears in the United States. “It’s the same problem worldwide,” Fisher says. “Nobody is getting enough money for their milk.”
The milk market in Australia is complicated, just as it is in the United States, and calls for a learned approach if it is to be understood. Like in the U.S., the subject of price often prompts farmers to respond in anger, rather than with rationality, he says.
Too, the dairy industry varies by areas in Australia, just as it does in the U.S. On the Eastern Seaboard near Sidney, where he first visited, the business is declining. Soil with a high saltwater table precludes lush meadows.
His hosts, Frank and Ellen Wheatly, run a small farm, feeding about two pounds of grain per day, a mixture of alfalfa and a commodity blend. That compares to about 32 pounds per day in the U.S., Fisher says.
“They aren’t intensive with managing cattle,” he adds.
The Wheatlys had just begun to use artificial insemination (AI) with their all-Fresian herd. Fisher shared his knowledge of the procedure with them.
The couple has to contend with a price that has fallen from 50 cents per liter before deregulation to less than 30 cents today. Fisher points out the paradox that occurred in Australia with the advent of deregulation — despite a drop in production and increase in demand, the price didn’t budge from its low.
But all in all, when Fisher returned to his farm in Northeast Texas, he brought with him many pleasant memories and much knowledge from another part of the world.
Fisher’s eagerness for knowledge was what encouraged him to apply for the DFA Young Dairy Leader Exchange program. He says he would recommend the exchange program to a lot of young people in dairying who want to expand their expertise and knowledge.