After a lot of searching we finally found a new home for our calves, 173 acres in Ranceby in South Gippsland.
The previous owners Robin and Deb McKinnon were very helpful in showing us their production figures, explaining how the farm worked and then allowing us to move some machinery and cows early.
There are some steep paddocks but most is gently undulating. About 2/3 of the farm is accessible with a tractor. We ran production and financial models on the farm and the figures showed that it was viable.
The Strzeleckis were originally under the sea so the soil is derived from sediments. It is a gray coloured loam with poor structure. When its dry weather the soil is dusty and when it rains it turns to mud.
Our family shares the farm jobs which spreads the load and makes it manageable.
We bought the existing herd and have bought in new milkers. As at December 2015 we still have 20% of the herd yet to calve. This should bring the total cows in the vat to around 95. We were aiming for 110 cows but it seems that the existing cows are doing better than anticipated so that has made up some of the difference.
