Farming dynasty is thriving

Four of the five Parish sisters are actively involved in farming and the fifth is studying in the United States and eventually plans to return to Australia to help farmers with their mental health.

It’s a family affair that continues to grow.

Leading the dynasty are Lyn and David Parish who, alongside David’s brother Paul, own two adjoining dairy farms and one beef farm south of Winchelsea.

The property holdings have grown over the years to accommodate more cows, but also to give their daughters an opportunity to pursue farming careers.

The Parish family has been farming in the area since 1949, expanding with the beef property in 1997 and adding the second dairy farm in 2021.

Lyn, David and Paul manage the home dairy farm Bonnie View, David and daughters Jodie and Wendy oversee the recent dairy farm addition, Retreat Creek, and daughter Elizabeth runs the beef farm.

Eldest daughter Sam runs a beef and sheep farm in South Gippsland with her husband Nick, regularly taking dairy-beef crosses from both of the dairy farms.

The only daughter not actively connected to the farming business is Kasey, who is now studying her masters in psychology in the US and plans to complete her PhD in the field, but she maintains a strong interest in the enterprises.

Sam enjoys being part of the family business from afar, but plans to make it a closer connection in the next year.

“I grew up here, and we are in the process of transitioning back home in the next 12 months,” she said.

“We want to maintain the property at Gippsland, but integrate back into the family business, though we’re not entirely sure what that will look like.

“This is home and I love being close to family and friends. I love being here.”

Sam had a career with animal health companies in Australia and New Zealand before finishing corporate work last year to focus on family.

Apart from the composite flock and Angus operation on the Gippsland farm, they also finish the family’s crossbreds.

“Jodie and Wendy raise them from a day old, then they go to Eliabeth for a short period or they come to us in Gippsland and we grow them out,” she said.

“Depending on where the market is at, we’ll either process them through Greenhams or look at marketing options elsewhere.”

Second-youngest daughter, Jodie is full-time on the Retreat Creek farm, and mother to two-year-old Reggie.

The farm has about 700 dairy cows, calving twice a year, on 400ha.

The former occupational therapist now runs the farm’s day-to-day operations.

Sister Wendy works four-days-a-week as a vet, but helps out on the farm on her days off.

The farm has a mixed bag of cows, Holsteins and Aussie Reds from the previous owner and lower BPI Jersey cows sent from Bonnie View.

They calve a lot of the lower BPI cows to Angus beef, to limit dairy numbers and maintain the successful cow rotation system.

Jodie and Wendy don’t mind taking the lower-level BPI cows.

“They’re still good productive cows and if we didn’t do the recycling of animals through the farms, we wouldn’t be able to run as many herd numbers at Retreat Creek if we had to hold all crossbreds on farm.

“It saves a lot of dairy bobby calves, so it’s a good thing to do from a welfare perspective as well as the business benefits,” Wendy said.

“We’re lucky. Not many farms have a system where you can take the calves off to another farm.”

The top cows that come from Lyn are bred to Jersey and the lower ones get Angus, with the BPI scores, production figures and herd testing results contributing to the decision.

“We don’t do BPI testing on the herd, only herd test quarterly. The tops of the herd go through to be joined to their respective breed, if not to Angus,” Wendy said

They have plenty of replacements, so about half the cows are going to Angus at the moment.

“We don’t cull if they are still a good milking cow,” Wendy said.

“We’ve got cows 14 years old that still milk as hard as the others. Longevity is a big thing.”

Sam said the beef connections had been invaluable.

“It has recently changed so that the animal only needs to be at least 50 per cent Angus to be classified as Angus for marketing purposes. That works in our favour.”

It has been a tough climatic season in south-west Victoria, but Retreat Creek’s irrigation has helped them to get through.

A new pivot has been operational for 15 months, helping maintain the summer crops for longer, though water reserves are being held at the moment for stock.

While Jodie milks, feeds and covers most farm jobs, David manages the pastures and Wendy takes care of animal health.

“We try to balance things so we can take a day off,” Wendy said.

“We try to help each other out, but Jodie takes the front role and I help out where I can.”

The sisters enjoy the farming lifestyle and working together.

“We have a few barnies from time-to-time, but we quickly get over it,” Wendy said.

“We work well together and know how we tick,” Jodie said.

“We can read the other person and know when they need a break.”

At Retreat Creek, Jodie, David and Wendy make the decisions for day-to-day management, while for bigger business decisions it goes back to Lyn and David and Paul.

Lyn decides which cows stay and which go from her farm.

The sisters enjoy the camaraderie of farming together and hope to extend that opportunity to another generation.

Sam’s earliest farm memory is being small enough to fit on the small pillow behind the tractor seat as her father worked while listening to John Denver songs.

She also remembers seeing a cow’s caesarean birth and being intrigued by the process.

Jodie and Wendy have memories of drawing pictures on the dairy wall and two cots and a big old rocking pram being set up in the dairy.

“We enjoyed growing up on the farm and the lifestyle it creates and we want to give that opportunity to our children,” Jodie said.

The Parish dynasty looks set to continue.