I finally managed to pack away all the Christmas decorations and cart the fresh tree out the door, only to have it taken from me and repurposed by our son. He is an avid designer of fishing lures and saw great potential in the trunk of the pine tree.
Josh has managed over the last few years to secure space in the shed by making his own workbench and has now earned rights to the incredible toolbox used to keep things in prime condition around here.
I am so grateful for the many opportunities available to children’s brain and skill development growing up on dairy farms. They undeniably are given the best opportunity to thrive, especially under safe and measured boundaries.
‘Safety first’ is a strong motto we hold to here in everything we do.
As wonderful as it is working with helpful machinery like tractors and bikes — also occasionally cows that aren’t willing — under a beautiful sky that brings all sorts of weather conditions, we need to be vigilant.
Safety, and safe work practices, is the responsibility of everyone that works in the business, including employees, managers and owners.
It takes effort to create a culture of ‘safety first’ on a farm. We utilise the Dairy Australia Farm Safety Manual. It is thorough and easy to use, giving you a clear picture of what you do really well and where you could focus more.
Please reach out to the GippsDairy office if you would like a copy. Everyone needs to go home to their families at the end of the day.
Just this past week an incredible thunderstorm came through Gippsland with some much-needed rain relief. It was wide and varied across Gippsland, so hopefully you received some.
For us, we received 20mm over two days. It was a great refresh and will help extend our irrigation interval by a few days, with the added bonus that the flies seemed to stay away for a few days.
This weather is a good indicator to be mindful of facial eczema in your cows.
We have had a high reading here in the MID of 65,000 spores/gram, and the Spore Count Monitoring Program run through GippsDairy is signalling different counts throughout the region.
We guard against facial eczema by adding zinc to the pellet concentrates fed to the cows, and we’ve had great results from this practice. Don’t forget to consider your young stock also.
The Spore Count Monitoring results are updated every fortnight and available for viewing at: https://dairyaustralia.com.au/gippsdairy
Thank you to the many Gippsland farmers regularly willing to submit their samples for the good of all. This program is necessary in managing the continued health and productivity of our cows here in Gippsland.
I’m certain with the dry conditions we’re experiencing, more time is spent in tractors feeding out to our cows.
It’s a great opportunity to plug into an inspiring podcast or two. With technology at our fingertips these days, it’s never been easier to ‘plug into a pod’.
The dairy industry is filled with great podcasters offering wide and varied topics that will interest you.
In fact, GippsDairy launched the inaugural DairyPod back in 2019, an innovative idea put together by then GippsDairy team members Allan Cameron, Danny Butler and Ruairi McDonnell.
John Mulvaney and Ruairi McDonnell (working as a regional extension officer) discussed marginal milk. This created a great response and ultimately launched DairyPod nationally.
This innovative thinking took Australian dairy conversations to a new platform allowing farmers to connect to great discussions at the tap of a button wherever they were. Tune in, it’s worth it.
– Sarah O’Brien is the GippsDairy chair.
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