Dry times and a shrinking water pool have resulted in what one Riverina dairy industry leader said was a “dramatic change” in farming practices, since the turn of the century.
Former Murray Dairy chair Malcolm Holm said he only bought his first silage wagon in 2003.
“We have dramatically changed the way we farm in the 2000s,” he said.
“We have adapted to the environment around us, we have changed the way we irrigate - now we look at the season as three distinct blocks, spring as a unit, summer, as a unit and autumn as a unit.”
Pasture improvement was also a priority on Pyngama, west of Deniliquin NSW.
The farm ran 700 Holstein and Holstein-Jersey cross cattle, which was larger than the average Riverina operation.
Production was around five million litres of milk, at 380,000 kg/ms.
Just over 400 hectares of the 582ha farm, which had been doubled since 2000, was irrigated.
“We have doubled the herd and milk production, have extensive use of irrigation, automation and embraced the new irrigation outlets by reducing them and more than doubling the flows coming onto the farm,” he said.
Mr Holm said Pyngama had a calving pattern of seven batches a year, using AI on both cows and heifers, with sexed semen.
He said the property budgeted on 350 millimetres of winter rain, “so we rely heavily on irrigation for our feedbase.
That water came out of the Murray and Hume-Dartmouth catchments, or the Darling at Menindee, with water diverted at Yarrawonga/Mulwala to the private Murray Irrigation Limited scheme.
“We have got 23 per cent of entitlements, on top of those we get a six per cent company dividend, and 11pc for water compliant measures.”
Mr Holm said the farm would use anywhere between 1600-3000 gigalitres of water, “depending on the year and how much feed we are putting away – in years like this, we ratchet it back and chew into our feed reserves a bit.”
“Predominantly, it’s all to do with feeding cows and heifers – pasture for grazing, silage and hay.
“We grow maize, for silage, through the summer and also lucerne, we are 99 per cent self sufficient, but buy canola and wheat in.
“We have bought a fair bit of temporary water – it’s certainly put a big hole in the budget, there’s no doubt about that, it’s been a fairly painful exercise, but we needed to do it to secure our feed and grazing base. Because they have taken one third of the water out of the market, that’s one third less water available to use, or to be traded
“With less water in the market it’s driving the price up, so the basin plan is starting to bite.”
Mr Holm said he was disappointed with the way successive governments had handled the plan.
“We can’t unscramble the egg, the government has bought the water, they have paid reasonable money for it, we have to respect property rights, however, I feel governments can be a lot smarter around how they use that water, ensuring we have got a productive landscape from both a farming and environmental point of view.”
It would be a nervous wait to see if the season broke, as rainfall had been poor for the past five to six years.
“We purchased the farm off family back in 2000, and we borrowed a fair bit more to expand the enterprise,” Mr Holm said.
“We were hit by the millennium drought, then the Global Financial Crisis – it’s been pretty challenging, given all those factors.
“We haven’t had a run of good years – although it looks promising, even in the past ten years, water wise, we have only had one or two good years.
“The Hume catchment is a very responsive catchment, if the catchment is wet up, through the spring and we have any normal type of spring, one would hope particularly the catchment could fill quite quickly. The Hume has been known to fill in a matter of weeks but we haven’t had a decent spring for four, five, six years, so one would hope we are in for a decent spring; it’s a bit of nervous time, at the moment.
There was still a lot more work which needed to be done on the basin plan.
“It’s been a pretty ordinary process - to me it was rushed. Both governments, and particularly Labor, took advantage of the drought and gutted the irrigation regions.
“There was no strategic planning, or thinking around the plan.”
There was also a knock-on effect to the surrounding community, as Pyngama employed six people, as well as using local contractors and service providers.
Throughout the process, he said the banks had been supportive of the enterprise.
“I think the banks have been pretty responsible, if you can prove you have a good track record to meet your commitments – but they all go through phases where they are in love with you, or fall out of love with you,” he said.
“We very much see banks very much as a key partner in the business; apart from ourselves, the milk factory, Murray Goulburn and the bank are probably the key relationships.”
