Narelle, Mark and Nola (3) Boardman, of Montgomery. Narelle and Mark have invested their milk profit into improving their business, with direct returns in efficiencies.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
Narelle and Mark Boardman, at Montgomery, in central Gippsland, have made some useful investments after earning the extra profit from the milk price they received from Bulla Dairy Foods.
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“We had a bit of money to splash around,” Mark said.
Last year they increased the stocking rate on their farm, integrating surplus heifers they raised for the export market.
They fed silage to the milkers using hay rings in one paddock. Mark then added spoiled hay, solid waste from the feed pad and dairy platform, and spread the resulting home-made compost across the paddock, increasing its fertility.
“Feeding the cows in one paddock trashed the paddock,” Mark said.
It was an opportunity to renovate it. He sowed millet (for silage), followed by rye-grass.
“We grazed it a couple of times, then cut silage off it,” Mark said.
The paddock had previously been part of the calf-raising area, but is now consolidated into the milking platform.
“Because we’ve got extra land, we can use it for the cows and produce more milk,” Narelle said.
“On this farm, every little square inch of additional pasture helps.”
Their 68 hectare farm is flood irrigated, from the Lake Glenmaggie system, in the Macalister Irrigation District.
They have leased land more recently, which allows them to raise their heifers away from the home farm.
They harvested 600 rolls of pasture silage off that 53ha irrigated block, while running 90 heifers on it.
“So that’s also allowed us to milk 30 more cows here,” Narelle said.
Mark and Narelle’s 240-cow milking herd is 50 per cent stud cows, mostly Holsteins, with one Jersey stud cow, and some Ayreshires, Red breeds and Brown Swiss, under their Shadyoak prefix. The balance of the milking herd are crossbred cows.
They milk in a 20-swingover herringbone dairy, with automatic cup removers. Production in the 2023-24 season was 106,000kg Milk Solids, based on their then-herd of 210 cows.
“We split-calve, partly for cash flow and partly to manage the stud cattle,” Narelle said.
Mark and Narelle Boardman. Half of their milking herd are stud animals, mostly Holstein, with the balance crossbred cows.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
They aim to harvest 740 rolls of pasture silage in spring each year, with up to 200 rolls of opportunistic millet silage harvested in autumn.
“The millet silage is fed to dry cows and the rye-grass silage to milking cows,” Mark said.
“We’ll buy maybe a load of oaten hay for the springers, and that’s it part from grain.”
A lightning strike on Boxing Day 2023 brought forward their plans to replace the milk vat.
The old vat was 4800 litres, which needed daily collection. They had a 2800 litre vat to help cope with peak spring season.
The lightning strike damaged the vat, which was originally slated for replacement in 2026.
Mark and Narelle brought forward that date to 2024, and decided to use their annual profit to invest in a larger, more usable, shed to house the newer second-hand vat and various equipment, give themselves a workshop area, and for much-needed storage.
When they needed to replace their milk vat, Mark and Narelle Boardman decided to use their annual profit to build a new shed for their replacement vat and assorted equipment and machinery, a workshop, as well as storage.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
“We either had to spend $5000 for a temporary fix for a year to two, or we needed to bring that project forward,” Mark said.
“We could also invest in a larger vat, and build the storage area we desperately needed.
“For us, it was a no-brainer. Replacing the vat and a bigger shed were in our 10-year strategic plan anyway.”
The 18x12 metre new shed was built and walls erected at the end where the vat has been installed.
“We did it as big as we could on the smallest budget we could, which is why only one end is enclosed,” Narelle said.
“It was a process getting it up, because we had to pull down three old sheds and keep the old vat functioning, before we switched over to the new vat. We milked the whole way through.
“So we just embraced the chaos for a bit.”
The new shed is built for multiple uses – in the larger area without walls it is currently housing machinery, it can also be used to store hay, or pens can be erected for use as a calf shed.
Narelle is also using part of the shed for storing her horse equipment.
In the walled area, it is being used as a wet area for milking equipment, the replacement vat, boots and aprons, and tools.
“We also took the opportunity to change over to a bigger milk pump and more efficient cooler,” Mark said.
“That’s saved us about $200 to $300 a month on power cost.
“Even though the new vat is 20 years old, it’s newer technology has been saving us about 25 per cent on power, compared to the old vat.
“We’re just trying to increase those efficiencies in the business.”
Narelle and Mark Boardman brought forward their strategic plan to replace their vat, after a lightning strike damaged it.
A future plan is to save the water off the shed roof, for washing machinery.
“Our plan is to put about 100,000 litres of water storage off the roof,” Narelle said.
“Most of our water supply is bore water and that’s quite harsh on machinery and equipment, so we want to replace that.
“It’s not ideal to run bore water through the hot water service.”
This year’s plans include renovating drainage at strategic points across the farm to reduce pugging that happens when it rains heavily.
“We’ve finished our five-year plan to renovate the whole farm, and we’re back at the start again,” Narelle said.
Mark Boardman milks 240 cows in a 20-swingover herringbone dairy at Montgomery, in central Gippsland.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
Production in the 2023-24 season was 106,000kg Milk Solids, based on the then-herd of 210 cows. Since then, Mark and Narelle Boardman have added 30 head to their milking herd and brought more of their farm into production.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
