WHEN Sarah Brown embarked on a career in agriculture she wanted to help farmers reach their goals, and it is still something she loves to do.
Ms Brown has been a dairy extension officer with Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources (DEDJTR, formerly the Department of Environment and Primary Industries) for a little more than two years.
In the role she takes the latest research out to farmers and helps them cut costs, improve productivity and run more resilient dairy operations.
During a two-year graduate program Ms Brown spent periods of time working out of the Ellinbank, Echuca and Warrnambool offices, and since finishing that in early Februruary she has been based at Tatura.
"Working out of all these centres meant my traineeship covered the three main dairy regions of Victoria, and it was fascinating to see the similarities and differences in the farming operations in them," the 24-year-old said.
Ms Brown grew up at Camden, NSW, a historic town about 65 kilometres south-west of Sydney's central business district.
Her fascination with agriculture started with trips to visit family at Gloucester, a town in the heart of dairy and beef cattle country in the NSW Mid North.
Her parents later bought a hobby farm in the district too.
Ms Brown took agriculture studies through her high school years and then went onto complete a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture, specialising in livestock production, at the University of Sydney.
In her final years of high school and during her university studies Ms Brown did relief work at a local dairy.
"I loved working with animals and the variety offered by a job in dairy," she said.
She came to realise how hard farmers worked to stay on top of everything.
"Farmers need to get everything right.
"For example, there is so much involved in keeping dairy cows healthy and producing high levels of milk."
Getting ruminants' nutritional intake balanced is an important aspect of running a productive dairy farm, and this is the focus of Ms Brown's job at the DEDJTR.
Every day is different, and includes a mix of catching up with the latest research, developing learning tools, meeting with farmers, visiting farms and taking part in field days and other industry events.
Within DEDJTR's dairy extension services, Ms Brown is part of a team that focuses on feed bases, which in turn has three programs related to grazing management, forage planning and diet balance.
"Getting these aspects right can drive profitability on farms," she said.
"For example, in our forage planning program we encourage farmers to plan more strategically with alternatives for the upcoming seasons so they are less likely to be caught out if the season deteriorates."
Her team, based at Tatura, covers the whole of the Murray Dairy region.
Ms Brown mostly works with farmers from Katandra through to Kerang.
"I get to see a lot of countryside and different dairying systems.
"It's terrific to see the physical factors that make each farm different and influence their calving pattern, grazing management and forage systems."
She said most of the farmers with whom she and her colleagues worked wanted to attend events and had come to them to gain knowledge and improve their practices.
"We work with their needs and the stage of their business," she said.
"We work with farmers of all different age-groups, with different scales of operation and with different backgrounds; we have farmers whose families have been on the land for multiple generations and those who are brand-new to farming."
Ms Brown said she found the work very rewarding.
"It's great when you've gone out to a farm and you're speaking with the farmer and they have a lightbulb moment – they understand what we've been talking about and how it applies to their farm.
"When I left high school I couldn't see anything else than working in ag, and I still feel that way."
