The Davies family, Simpson
Brett and Bronwyn Davies moved to South West Victoria from Swan Hill in 2015 seeking to milk 270 cows in a more reliable rainfall region. Learn more about their Focus Farm story below.
The Davies family was a WestVic Focus Farm from Month 2015 - Month 2017.
Farm background
Brett and Bronwyn purchased a farm at Simpson and were determined to realise the farm's full potential while maintaining a good lifestyle. Before becoming a Focus Farm, the Davies' experienced two difficult seasons; the first year had a very dry spring and summer. The second year had a very wet spring together with low milk prices.
Their split calving herd commenced calving in April 2015, with the remaining 25% calving in September 2015.
Farm challenges and goals
Specific challenges and goals for the Davies family included:
- Increasing home-grown feed and decreasing reliance on bought in feed.
- Developing pastures and building soil fertility.
- Addressing inadequate stock water requirements.
- Reducing fodder wastage in winter and developing wet season strategies.
- Driving production higher by better understanding feed costs, inputs and herd reproduction.
Farm facts and figures
An overview of the farm's productivity at the beginning of the project:
| Farm details |
|
| Milking area |
125 Ha |
| Dairy |
50 unit rotary with feed pad |
| Herd numbers |
237 cows |
| Annual stocking rate (cows/milking ha) |
1.9 |
| Milk Production (Kg Milk Solids) |
146,062 (616 Kg/MS/cow) |
| Homegrown feed (t/DM/total Area ha) |
7.9 |
| Homegrown feed in diet |
48% |
| Cows/labour unit FTE |
132 |
| Total Farm Gross Income ($/kg MS) |
$5.98 |
| Cost of Production ($/kg MS) |
$4.46 |
| Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ($/kg MS) |
$1.05 |
