We took over our new farm at Meeniyan last November 2023. Meeniyan is in South Gippsland in Victoria near the coast. On a clear day its possible to make out the hills on Wilson’s Promontory. The farm is a bit over 400 acres and is not quite as hilly as the Ranceby farm. Its well set out and all the paddocks are accessible via good lane-ways. It has a huge yard and feedpad which will be very handy. All the milkers have been moved to Meeniyan and from now on the Ranceby farm will be used to raise the heifers.
The previous owner had locked up quite a few paddocks so we were able to make silage to feed the cows for the next year. Most of the silage was made in bins along with some bales. Soil tests have shown that the soil is relatively fertile but there are a few nutrient gaps to fill. One of our main strategies will be to encourage clovers by adding trace elements.
The dairy is a 44 cow rotary. This has cut down milking time considerably although its still a 2 person job. It does mean that we will be able to boost cow numbers considerably, somewhere past 300.
